PhD in History, Arts and Archaeology, Université Catholique de Louvain and Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique, Belgium (2015).

Research

My research focuses on pottery traditions during times of ‘crisis’ in Greek Protohistory and History. By applying archaeometric analyses to selected ceramic assemblages, my aim is to identify how phenomena of widespread social, economic and political disruptions affected aspects of daily lives of the populations.

My doctoral studies consisted in a petrographic analysis of pottery production and supply in Crete during the advanced Late Bronze Age, based on pottery finds at Malia and Sissi (northern Lassithi). More recently, I have combined thin section petrography with other archaeometric techniques to explore one question that emerged from this research – namely, an archaeological problem pertaining to the reconstruction of provenance and trade networks of ophiolite-tempered pottery, based on the lithological assemblages of the coarse tempers.

As the Williams Fellow in Ceramic Petrology, I also study continuities and changes in pottery traditions in mainland Greece between the 12th and the 15th century AD. Using a comparative approach, special attention is given to the role of, respectively, Frankish rulers and settlers, and Italian trading powers, as potential catalysts in the transformation of pottery styles, production techniques, and supply strategies in Greece after the Fourth Crusade. With this project, I aim to contribute to the development of archaeometric research on Medieval Greek pottery at the Fitch Laboratory, while also broadening the scope of research to other geographical and cultural contexts through the study of pottery imports from Late Byzantine Anatolia, northern Italy, and Mamluk Syria.

Liard F., Koutsovitis P., Patterns of Production and Exchange of Pottery in the “South Coast” Fabric – A Mineralogical Study, South by Southeast. The History and Archaeology of Southeast Crete – from Myrtos to Kato Zakros, Pacheia Ammos, 1-2 July 2017.

Sanders G., Liard F., Venetian Commerce at Corinth: New Perspectives on Pottery Chronology as a Framework for the Archaeology of Renaissance in Greece, Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America, Boston, USA, 4-7 January, 2018.